Update: OK, here goes. The mystery woman figures prominently in a well-known nonfiction book about Los Angeles. The work was in bookstores within the last few years and is ranked among the top 100,000 in sales on Amazon.com. It was written by an iconic Los Angeles TV and film actor who grew up on Bunker Hill.

The mystery guest lived within easy walking distance of the Original Tommy's Hamburger at Rampart and Beverly.

Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles TimesThe apartment where the mystery guest lived was at the site now occupied by this building.

Karil Rogers Graham, 271 S. Carondelet, was beaten to death with a lead pipe. Her blood was spattered four feet up the wall and a piece of her skull was found eight feet from her body.

Donald Keith Bashor was convicted of her murder and executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin on Oct. 11, 1957. His final words were: "I'm glad my crimes are coming to an end. I am sorry I cannot undo the horrible things I did."

Bashor's story was the basis of a "Playhouse 90" episode by Jules Maitland. Bashor's slaying of Graham also plays a prominent role in Jack Webb's "The Badge," a not terribly accurate book reissued in 2005.